Taking showers at night is the best thing ever. I always feel so great, like I’ve washed away the cares of the day. The only problem is, my hair is now wet and I don’t want to go sleep quite yet or it’ll dry funny. Also, my brain is now just wide awake.
Our big work fundraiser, the “Voyage of Hope” Gala, was this last weekend. I have mixed feelings about work events. On the one hand, they involve a whole flipping lot of work. I got lucky, if you will, this year for the Gala and didn’t have to do too much to help. Obviously I helped, and was willing to help with everything, but I didn’t end up with much to do. Last year, I helped with prep and I did a ton of stuff the actual night of the event. I’m happy to help, but it’s nice to sit back and enjoy the night as well On the other hand, they are a flipping blast! First of all, it’s just fun to get all dressed up and see all my lovely friends and coworkers dressed up. It’s great to see our partners and board members and everyone all in one place. And the best part is that we get to hear how our organization has made a difference. Last year I was new, and I don’t think I really knew the scope of what we did. This year, I was moved to tears.
There’s something about hearing and seeing these stories outside of the office that struck me to the bone this year, even though I’d heard them all before. We heard about the woman in Thailand who rushed into karaoke bars and grabbed as many kids as her arms could hold in order to save them from sex slavery. Now she has a village of children that she’s rescued, and we helped provide the equipment and medicines for their clinic. We heard about the village in Africa where a hospital literally saved hundreds of lives, including that of a baby girl named Jeannie, because we were able to send medicines to them. Stories like that break my heart.
We have been blessed with so much here, and yet I get frustrated about my job? What is wrong with this picture?! Yesterday we received a stack of pictures that the kids from the orphanage in Thailand had drawn and sent to us. There were pictures of animals and people and Disney princesses and beautiful landscapes, and there was just so much joy and hope poured into the pages. A lot of those kids were sold to sex traffickers by their own parents. Some might have been kidnapped or tricked into it. I don’t know their stories, but I am beyond honoured to be a part of that story in some small, miniscule way. By the way, the picture I picked to put up in my workspace is a pretty landscape. The best part is that they wrote “I like cow” and “I love you” on it as well! I like cows too.
I feel like I get so caught up in the mundane and the business aspect of things that I forget we work with people, and that people change. The work we do touches and changes people. I hope that picture is a constant reminder of just that. I also saw a ring at Target and I just had to buy it. Partially because it’s a spiffy ring, but mostly because it says, “Be the change you wish to see in the world.” I know that’s tacky and cliche and whatever, but that’s what I want to do with the rest of my life, in some way, shape or form. God has done so many miraculous things with this organization. I pray He continues to work in it. Heaven knows we need all the help we can get, because we certainly don’t do it on our own strength. If we did, I think I would have keeled over from exhaustion days after I started there!
Anyway, all the work and tears we put into that event were worth it, in my opinion. I just feel so motivated by everything that’s happened in the last week. It puts the mundane tasks into perspective, and makes me want to work just that much harder to further God’s Kingdom and this organization. I just pray that it doesn’t take huge events to remind me of that, but that God would show me how to do that on a daily basis.
“He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?” ~ Micah 6:8
